Running 135 miles across Death Valley and back in July and other ultra adventures

Scatter my ashes here...

scatter my ashes in the desert...

Thursday, April 4, 2013

What Goes With Gray Hair?

Turquoise!

The best color for gray hair, as far as I'm concerned. And wouldn't you know it, Pearl Izumi has come up with a racing outfit that goes great with my gray hair! Any company that would support a runner my age already wins extra points. But this stuff is nice.

Yes it is my job to market the Pearl Izumi brand, but I have to say that every article of Pearl Izumi gear I have ever owned has been my favorite. I currently own 3 pairs of PI tights, a jacket, a vest, and half an ancient pair of PI socks that were my all-time favorites until the dryer ate one. And that's stuff I bought before I started this Team PI Colorado gig.

It's comfortable, you can't help but notice the colors, and functional.

I wish I had the shoes to show you, I switched out the ones they had for me because I needed to get the right fit, so I'm just waiting a few more days for the M3 shoes in my size and I'll have matching shoes, too! I'll write more about the PI products and the shoes as soon as I have something to show pictures of.

Last night after work I drove down to Louisville, to Pearl Izumi headquarters. The sunset was impressive over the Front Range, big clouds, big sky, and fresh snow visible on the mountains.

There was a meeting of everyone on Team PI, the grassroots team that has been organized to help promote the product. Along with pizza, salad, and beer, we got some pointers on the products, looked at the shoes, and received our racing outfits. Nice stuff.

Nick Clark, my buddy from the Fort Collins Running Club and my pacer extraordinaire from Badwater 2008, was there. Nick's made quite the name for himself in his performances in ultrarunning over the past 5 years. He's one of the few athletes sponsored by Pearl Izumi. Out of the grassroots team, I knew a few runners, met a few more, and there were some familiar faces there, but I'll eventually get to know them.

If your local running store doesn't carry PI gear, let me know and I will pass the word along...

Can't wait to race in this stuff! We also got some black racing shorts, really nice, comfortable material with a nice wide mesh pocket in the back for carrying gels, keys, etc. As soon as I put this stuff on for my first race in it, I'll get pictures and post them on the blog.

Today I did 11 miles on the Power Trail with some strides and a fast mile with some little rolling sections thrown in, to see what I could do. My legs are still pretty toasty, and that mile was a struggle in 6:42. Whatever.

I'm resigned to the end of my season and anything I do now isn't going to help me at NorthCoast, what I have is what I have. I think for 24 hours, the more rest I can get over the next two weeks, the better off I'll be.

I'm looking forward to getting into racing the short stuff this summer, though, once I take a break after North Coast.

The other thing I did today was put in for the lottery for the St. George Marathon. I've never run that marathon, and I figured I'd give it a shot. If I don't get in, I'll keep trying until they let me in. If it doesn't happen this year, then I'll get to run it after I turn 50. That might even be better.

I'll finish out the week and then the next two weeks I am going to do lower mileage, and start packing and planning for Ohio. I can't believe it's already April. Every day it looks more like spring. Summer will be here in a few weeks...any day the leaves will be bursting out.

We Keep On Running...

About Me

I started running in 1984 and ran my first ultra in 1991. I wanted to run Badwater ever since I heard about Ben Jones cooling himself down with an ice-filled body bag. I achieved my longtime dream in July 2008 when I crossed the Badwater finish line in just over 47 hours. In 2011, I ran the race again, then returned on foot to Badwater, a round trip of 270 miles.
My health, fitness, ability, and desire to run ultramarathons are a gift I can give to others who face challenges to their health and well-being.
I am a health coach and cancer exercise trainer, and I'm passionate about empowering people to live life at their best.
My dream is to transform health care so it is truly about health and care, and bring the nursing profession into modern times by elevating the grassroots voices of working nurses.
Life is an ultra, and every finish line is the starting line of the next adventure.

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photo credit: Kristi Mayo/Mile 90 Photography

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The posts expressed on this blog ever since its inception are, have always been, and always will be in the future, my personal opinions. I occasionally stray to topics outside of running, from nursing, health care and social justice issues, to cell phones, menopause and beer, and those are also my personal opinions, and they belong exclusively to me, not to any individual person outside of my body or any corporate, government, profit-driven or not-for-profit entity...full text of disclaimer